Bronco on quarterbacks and the polls

In recent years, BYU has been fortunate in that its quarterbacks have remained healthy — or at least haven’t missed much playing time due to injury. John Beck missed one start, against Utah State, in 2006. Besides that, Beck (’05, ’06) and Max Hall (’07, ’08) have been the starters. Other programs haven’t been that lucky. Even BYU hasn’t been that lucky. Remember 2003, when the Cougars played Matt Berry, John Beck and Jackson Brown?

But coach Bronco Mendenhall said Monday that keeping the quarterbacks healthy isn’t all about luck. ‘You do make a choice in the style of offense that you run. As you watch quarterback-based systems and running the football like West Virginia and Oregon, the offenses that are choosing to run the quarterback, there is a risk. With that risk comes, usually, wins and losses. We do as much as we can in our system to get the ball released efficiently, timely, before Max will take a hit … There’s always a risk of getting sacked. But we’re very conservative in the protection of our quarterbacks.’

Mendenhall doesn’t like to acknowledge the national polls. But he might be changing his approach. What if, for example, the Cougars hit a ceiling in the rankings? What if they go down after a bye week? Would he address the polls then?
‘I only like to speak out on matters of principle. If it ever came to that point, I could certainly see that happening, if principle and the polls actually exist at the same time.”
Then he laughed out loud.
“I guess I’ve already kind of addressed it, haven’t I?” he continued. “The main thing is, I want to focus on our team. Having to address it is what I’m learning… I’m not sure I’m not going to be able to, from what I saw last week with the volume of questions and the amount of interest. At some point, it might be easier to address it, even though I don’t value it, than trying to act like it doesn’t exist, which has been my policy to this point. It seems like by doing so, I’m creating more interest than less. It’s backfiring.’